Todd Deatherage is the Executive Director of the Telos Group. Todd spent sixteen years in senior positions in the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government before co-founding the Telos Group. From 2005 to 2009, he was Chief of Staff in the Secretary of State’s Office of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department. He also spent two years as Senior Advisor in the Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom, where he specialized in religious freedom in the Middle East. Todd worked for a decade in the U.S. Congress, including six years as Chief of Staff to Senator Tim Hutchinson. He is a native Arkansan and a graduate of the University of Arkansas. He began his career as an educator. He and his family live in Fairfax County, Virginia.

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“There are ways to solve the conflict with some kind of political agreement,” answers Todd Deatherage, co-founder of the Telos Group. However, key issues must be dealt with to end the conflict, including questions of the border lines, the claims on Jerusalem, the matter of refugees, and border security. “When you hear about the ‘peace process,’ those are the issues that they are always talking about.”

“Both sides are claiming deep connections to this city,” says Todd Deatherage, co-founder of the Telos Group. Both political and religious reasons fuel the claims on Jerusalem, making it a difficult conflict to solve. One option is dividing control between Jewish and Arab neighborhoods, but this brings in the question of borders and commonly held “sacred space.” “There are choices out there…I’m not saying any of them are easy.”

“Our work with Telos…begins with the notion that you have to begin by recognizing the inherent human dignity of everyone who lives in the Holy Land,” answers Todd Deatherage, co-founder of the Telos Group. Recognizing universal human dignity is vital to stopping violence and finding resolution. Religious organizations in particular have the ability to encourage such recognition…or to impede it, based on their message.